Beauty and the Nerd
by Katnibellamione
Summary: If you have followed any of my channels, you might have noticed musical theatre references pop up here and there. This story, with musical theatre as its structure, came to me in a dream. I hope you enjoy it! Bonus: Every chapter title is identical to that of a musical theatre song. Guess which show each is from if you can.
1. 1: Meet Me Inside

**1: Meet Me Inside**

Katniss Everdeen was flouncing about in her cheerleading outfit as she left practice for the afternoon. Flanking her were best friends and fellow cheerleaders, Clove Hood and Glimmer Wilson.

"Uh-oh!" Glimmer squealed before pointing. "Loser bomb at 12:00!"

Up ahead, Peeta Mellark, the school's quintessential nerd, was struggling to carry what seemed to be his entire locker out of the school.

Katniss smirked. "I got it." As the girls passed, Katniss stuck out her foot. Down Peeta went. The girls laughed and high-fived.

"Nice one, Katniss!"

"Ha, ha, loser."

"MS. EVERDEEN!" The cheerleaders froze and spun to see their principal, Mr. Abernathy, his face drawn in a hard line of rage. He pointed to his office door. "Meet me inside."

Katniss deflated and shared an annoyed look with her friends. The girls moved on without her as she followed Mr. Abernathy into the principal's office. No one paid any attention to Peeta, who gathered his books by himself and left the building for home.

Katniss sat across from the principal as he reached for a flask. It was known that Mr. Abernathy could be a bit of a drunk. Therefore, by Katniss's logic, why should she mind the man? He turned to her.

"That is at least the sixth time in the past week you have lashed out at Mr. Mellark or any of the more…. academically inclined of our school. Being a good student is a virtue of this institution, Mrs. Everdeen, not a vice. You should try it some time."

Katniss folded her arms and scowled. Not only was he annoying her by bringing her into his office, he was insulting her while doing it. What a boor.

"It's not my fault Mellark is such a geek. He should have gotten out of my way."

"Nevertheless," Mr. Abernathy cut across from her. "Everyone has a right to these halls, as well as respect." He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "We have been down this road too many times, Katniss. Obviously, mere detention has not had an effect with you. So, you leave me no choice: I am suspending your participation on the cheerleading squad and choosing for you an alternate activity, one that may change your perspective."

Katniss's mouth fell open. "You can't be serious! For how long?"

"The rest of the spring semester," Mr. Abernathy eyed her flatly.

"That is so unfair! The spring semester just started, and I know Glimmer was going to pick me to replace her as Junior Captain for next year!"

"I will inform Ms. Wilson of her need to find a new successor. In the meantime, I am assigning you to the Drama Club. You will start by auditioning for the spring musical on Friday." He handed her a flyer, advertising the Drama Club's production of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ , to be performed in four months hence. "Fail to report, and you will be suspended from school for the rest of the semester."

Katniss snarled in frustration. This was going to be a long spring until May…..


	2. 2: Shine

**2: Shine**

Katniss was informed about formal filing of her suspension from the cheerleading squad the next day in PE class. Clove and Glimmer's rantings and ravings over Mr. Abernathy's "despotic" or "dictatorial" overreach only made her feel a bit better. Walking her friends to practice Friday afternoon felt like a funeral procession.

"Let us know what it's like with the geeks," Clove shrugged.

"Keep your head down and just go through the motions if you are cast," Glimmer said sympathetically. "Then you'll have the summer with us, free of Drunk Abernathy."

Katniss smiled sadly, hugging her friends goodbye before proceeding to the theatre.

God, it smelled like an old sock in there. What's more, it was GeekLand. Kids pouring over textbooks, scripts and the like. In the center of it all, Katniss noticed Peeta, busily taking notes on a pad. His eyes met hers and she turned away. That scum was the whole reason she was here in the first place. She took a seat by herself far enough away. All she had to do was wait for her turn, sing 16 bars and be out of there. Maybe she would stink and not be cast anyway.

Mrs. Trinket, the Drama teacher, took the stage.

"Well! Thank you all for coming out and showing courage to embrace our hallowed halls of the theatre, and… WAS THAT A CELL PHONE?" The sudden bark made everyone jump in fright, even Katniss, who had to turn her face away to keep from laughing awkwardly. A girl with red hair approached Trinket meekly from one side of the stage.

"No, ma'am that was the warning bell."

"Ah. Well, then let us begin. I will have each of you come up here, one at a time, to sing 16 bars that will give me a sense if the theatre is your calling. Our pianist, Annie Cresta, will accompany you. Also, my Student Leadership Team – Johanna Mason, Beetee Latier and Peeta Mellark – will be helping me evaluate you in between their own auditions. Casting will be announced on Monday."

Katniss wanted to roll her eyes. Great! Not only would she have to sing in front of all these people, Mellark had been given explicit permission to judge her for it!

Most of the auditions were mediocre at best, god-awful at worst. It was a miracle Trinket could get through all of them. No wonder she needed a Leadership Team…..

At last, Katniss was called to the stage. Eyes stared at her from all sides as she took the mic. She slated as the others before her had, though quietly, and then began singing.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow…."

The whole time, Katniss focused on a point on the wall, not meeting anyone's gaze. The one time she did look at someone was Peeta, finger across his mouth, brow creased in thought, taking down notes on a pad. She quickly looked away. He was taking this so seriously – too seriously!

The whole room was strangely quiet after she was done.

"Thank you, Mrs. Everdeen," Mrs. Trinket said after small applause. "You may go."

Though no one else had left after their turn, Katniss wasted no time getting out of there.


	3. 3: High Flying Adored

**3: High Flying Adored**

Monday morning, Katniss dragged herself to the Theatre's doors to discover her fate. Clove and Glimmer went with her. There were nine principal roles, and a dozen more spots for ensemble members. Only one principal role was for a woman.

And Katniss had gotten that role. She would be playing Mary Magdalene.

Katniss stared, mouth open, as Clove and Glimmer congratulated her. "Maybe this won't be so unbearable for you after all," they mused.

But Katniss could tell it would be. Playing the Messiah, Jesus Christ himself, would be none other than Peeta Mellark. Jesus was supposedly her love interest in the show. Beetee Latier would be playing Judas.

Rehearsals began that same afternoon. Right away, Katniss could tell that many of the theatre geeks didn't trust her. They were clearly suspicious of why she had auditioned in the first place, treating her winning of the Mary Magdalene role as some kind of coup pulled off by a brazen usurper. Ironically, the only person who seemed to treat her nicely was Peeta. Never mind the fact that just a few days before, she had purposefully tripped him. Everyone else's feelings seemed to ooze out of the very scenes and songs they were singing. But so did Peeta's confusing ones. Beetee began the third number of the show, getting very invested in his character's condensation of Katniss.

" _It seems to me a strange thing mystifying, that a man like you would waste his time on women of her kind,"_ he musically mused to Peeta as Jesus. _"Yes, I can understand that she amuses, but to let her stroke you, kiss your hair, is hardly in your line. It's not that I object to her 'profession' – but she doesn't fit in well with what you teach and say. It doesn't help us if you're inconsistent. They only need a small excuse to put us all away_."

Peeta gave as good as he got in the singing; indeed it seemed as if he was really coming to Katniss's defense as much as he was Mary Magdalene's in the scene: " _Who are you, who, to criticize her? Who are you, who, to despise her? Leave her, leave her – let her be now. Leave her, leave her – she's with me now. If your slate is clean, then you can throw stones. If your slate is not, then leave her alone!_ "

Katniss almost blushed at the protection, contrived as it might or might not have been, especially when Peeta pulled her to him by the waist while singing _'she's with me now'_ , as if he was a young man trying to defend his girlfriend.

Trinket was apparently oblivious to this strange blurring between fiction and reality. She was just pleased that staging was off to such a good start. As a final order of business, she put everyone off in pairs – with 21 people in the cast, the odd man out was put in a group of three. Predictably, Peeta and Katniss were paired off for private practice sessions at home. Peeta immediately suggested meeting the next evening after rehearsal at the Mellark family bakery; Katniss agreed to simply put the matter to rest.

* * *

The next night, Peeta and Katniss walked silently to the Mellarks' place after rehearsal. They had to practice one little moment between the two of them going into Katniss's big solo. It quickly became clear that Katniss was not into it, to the point that a normally patient Peeta grew frustrated. After Katniss botched her cue for the fourth time, Peeta turned off the recording.

"Katniss, why did you audition?" he asked honestly.

Katniss didn't try to hide her scowl. "I didn't want to. I was forced to. It was either that or get suspended from school for the rest of the semester just for tripping you and your silly books!"

"Ah," Peeta nodded calmly, though his anger was barely hidden. Then it came out when Katniss said, "It's your fault I'm even in this mess."

"You know what, 'this mess,' as you so cleverly put it, may not be important to you, but it is very important to the rest of us! You know, I have to actually stick up for you when my friends say that you are some kind of intruder, barging into our little group like this! And then they give me grief, reminding me of all the things you've done to people like us! You don't realize how good you have it, Katniss – the looks, the adoration of the cheerleaders and the football team, the status! Now, you may think of this as some kind of prison sentence, being forced to practice with me. Well, trust me when I tell you that the feeling is mutual!"

Katniss stared at him, agape. Never, in her entire life, had anyone spoken to her like this – except for maybe Mr. Abernathy, but even he wasn't as harsh. And it had come from Peeta Mellark, of all people! At a loss for what to say, Katniss awkwardly mumbled good night to Peeta and raced home.


	4. 4: That Would Be Enough

**4: That Would Be Enough**

Rehearsal the next afternoon was very efficient, as it only ever could be under Mrs. Trinket. While she worked privately with the kids playing Caiaphas and his high priests, Katniss and Peeta went off alone to practice the segue into Katniss's solo. This time, Katniss came in on her cue and sang every note perfectly. Peeta actually smiled at her in approval.

"That was very good," he told her quietly, and he meant it. Katniss appreciated that he described it that way and not as, say, 'much better' or something like that. She mumbled a thanks.

"Why don't I restart the CD and we can take it from 'Heal Yourselves!' again?" Peeta walked towards the player. Katniss suddenly felt something she had never felt before: embarrassment.

"Peeta!" He turned.

"…. I'm sorry."

He cocked his head, as if he had misheard her, smiling. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Katniss got out.

Peeta grinned. "I heard you the first time. I just wanted to hear you say it again."

He fiddled with the player, and they re-did the scene. Katniss was again on-point. As they packed up to rejoin the others for rehearsal notes, Katniss asked:

"Peeta. How can I…. prove myself to you and the rest of the cast?" Her cheeks burned even as she said this, the mortification at her behavior still unfamiliar.

Peeta smiled gently at her. "Be reliable. Show that you care. Even more importantly, be kind." He nodded to her. "That would be enough."


	5. 5: I Don't Know How to Love Him

**5: I Don't Know How to Love Him**

Katniss worked harder on the show than she ever had on her cheerleading practices. As the spring wore on, she even found herself skipping the after school pleasantries with Clove and Glimmer to get to rehearsal early… as if she was looking forward to it… By the time May rolled around, Katniss almost forgot that she was ever a cheerleader at all. Indeed, she had grown closer to all of Peeta's friends, eventually earning their trust – even Beetee's.

Though he still had to sneer at her and essentially call her a slut during 'Strange Thing Mystifying', per his role.

Opening Night came at last. Glimmer and Clove came as moral support, though it became clear, as Katniss guided them to their seats before going backstage, that they were clueless about theatre etiquette. When a recorded voice of Mrs. Trinket reminded the audience to turn off all cell phones prior to the show, Glimmer balked.

"You mean I can't Instragram you totally slaying your solo?" she whined to Katniss. "Lame!"

Prim and Katniss's mother were also there. Their presence in the front row made Katniss nervous as she waited to go on. A squeeze of her hand made her glance away from the curtain.

"Don't worry," Peeta smiled at her. "You'll do great. Break a leg."

Katniss smiled sweetly at him, appreciating his warmth.

The show started off well, despite the nerves and adrenaline rush. But the biggest test would be Katniss's solo. The segue after the Temple scene went off without a hitch, and then the big moment began. Katniss gently began to sing what essentially amounted as a love song to Jesus. In fact, a part of her forgot that she was Katniss, instead believing that a now-sleeping Peeta really _was_ Christ, the Savior of mankind.

" _I don't know how to love him. What to do, how to move him. I've been changed. Yes, really changed. In these past few days, when I see myself, I seem like someone else. I don't know how to take this. I don't see why he moves me. He's a man, he's just a man. And I've had so many men before, in very many ways: He's just one more._ "

Over the course of the song, Katniss realized that everything she was singing was true. And emotions poured over her like a wave: shame, remorse, guilt. And, strangely enough, confusion: confusion over her feelings for Peeta. Before she knew it, she was openly crying.

" _Yet, if he said he loved me_ ," she wept, pointing to herself. " _I'd be lost, I'd be frightened. I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope. I'd turn my head. I'd back away. I wouldn't want to know. He scares me so. I want him so. I love him so._ "

The song ended, and Katniss received a standing ovation.


	6. 6: A Change in Me

**6: A Change in Me**

After the show, the entire cast celebrated backstage as they got their costumes off. After changing, Katniss was nearly bowled over as Peeta picked her up and spun her around.

"Katniss, you were amazing! You got the loudest applause after your song!" He pulled back to look at her. "But were you actually crying? And don't say no – I felt legit tears fall on me!"

The memory got Katniss teary all over again. "I'm sorry…."

"What the hell are you sorry for? It felt so real! You were so emotionally connected to the scene, it was amazing!" Before Katniss realized what was happening, Peeta was kissing away the tears on her face. "You did brilliant!"

Katniss smiled shyly. "So did you," she admitted.

Then, she noticed Peeta staring at her, his face suddenly red. "What?"

"You've…. you've got a…. tear on your…." When she didn't understand, he suddenly swooped down….. and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss.

Katniss gasped into Peeta's mouth. Then, her brain went fuzzy. She didn't mind Peeta's nerve; on the contrary, she actually admired it. All she wanted to do now was open her mouth to him, let him probe it with his tongue, for her to grope and fondle his well-toned body, to make love to him – where, she did not care: in her dressing room, flat on her back on the stage, in the dance studio….

Hot blood rushed to her core and she pulled out of the kiss. Peeta blushed furiously.

"I'm sorry," he stammered. "There was a tear on your…. and I didn't know if…."

"It's fine," Katniss brushed off. "In fact…. I liked it." The last came out in a rush, and Peeta's eyes widened.

"You did?"

"Yes," she admitted, blushing. Then, before she lost her own nerve, she gave him a peck on the cheek and left to go find her mother and Prim. Peeta rubbed the spot where she had kissed him, both on his cheek and where she had returned the one on his lips, lost in wonder.


	7. 7: She Used to be Mine

**7: She Used to Be Mine**

The next day, Peeta was happily going about school, lost in thought over the moment he had shared with Katniss the night before. So distracted was he that he was startled when a force suddenly slammed him into a locker.

"All right, you son-of-a-bitch! I saw you locking lips with my girlfriend! And I'm taking it out on your ass!"

It was Cato, the quarterback of the football team. And he was mad.

Though startled at first, Peeta found it within himself to roll with the new development. He merely raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean former girlfriend? I seem to recall you and Katniss had a very public breakup after the Homecoming Game." It was true; Katniss had broken up with Cato after he had forgotten to properly ask her to the Homecoming Dance.

Peeta had called Cato's bluff, and both of them knew it. "Yeah, she dumped me," the quarterback admitted. "But that doesn't mean she can go kissing you, dumb play or not!"

"She didn't refuse me. And she is at perfect liberty to kiss whomever she likes. The same could be said of me."

Cato's eyes narrowed. "You think you know what's best for her? More than I do?"

"I never said that, Cato. And if you think you have that kind of power over her, you're even more pathetic than I thought."

For a moment, he thought Cato was going to slug him. Instead, he just snarled. "We'll see about that, nerd. After school, front courtyard. We'll see which man is right!"

"I'll be there," Peeta said simply.

But inside, he wasn't so sure. He was strong from his work in the bakery, but not enough to defeat Cato. What was he to do?


	8. 8: Ten Duel Commandments

**8: Ten Duel Commandments**

After school, Peeta slowly walked to the front courtyard, racking his brain for how to defeat Cato without getting killed. He wasn't helped when Katniss greeted him just outside the doors.

"Hey! Are you ready for tonight's show?"

My God, he had forgotten about their second show that evening. He just nodded and kept walking towards Cato. "There's just something I need to take care of first."

Concerned, Katniss followed him. When she saw Cato, she understood.

"Leave him alone, Cato! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"He kissed you, sweetheart. That's wrong in my book."

"Then why aren't you beating me up, too? Because I kissed him back." Katniss challenged with relish.

Cato ignored her. He and some of the other football players formed a ring around Peeta, boxing Katniss out. Now, she started to panic.

"Peeta! Don't do this! Cato, stop!"

Peeta observed his adversaries from all sides, hands poised, ready.

Cato charged him. Peeta sidestepped with the gracefulness of a dancer, tripping the quarterback so that he sprawled into the dirt. Two more players now rushed him from opposite ends. Peeta ducked and scrambled through one player's legs at the last moment, dodging as both boys collided and went down. The last player lunged at Peeta with a raised fist; he dodged so that said fist went right into a tree instead, injuring the player's hand.

Peeta walked away from the injured players, literally without a scratch. He headed for Katniss, who was staring at him in admiration.

"That was easier than I thought," he admitted.

Katniss rewarded him with another peck on the cheek.


	9. 9: Catch Me, I'm Falling

**9: Catch Me, I'm Falling**

A year went by. Peeta and Katniss went on being really good friends. The eldest Everdeen didn't even go try out for the cheerleading squad once her suspension was lifted that fall.

Katniss had been bitten by the theatre bug.

By the next spring, the theatre kids – who now accepted Katniss as one of their own – were ecstatic to learn their musical would be Hamilton, the iconic hip-hop show about a Founding Father of the United States of America, the country which had preceded Panem. Peeta was cast in the title role of Alexander Hamilton; Katniss as his love interest and later wife, Elizabeth Schuyler. Katniss wondered whether this was some kind of pattern of Mrs. Trinket, trying to pair the two of them together in real life, but she brushed it off.

One day, at rehearsal, Peeta was in the middle of rehearsing, 'Aaron Burr, Sir' with Beetee, who was playing the former Vice President.

" _Sir, I heard your name at Princeton, I was seeking an accelerated course of study, when I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours. I may have punched him – it's a blur, sir. He handles…._ " Peeta stopped short in the middle of his rap. His face seemed to drain of color and a hand went to his heart.

"Peeta? Is everything all right?" Mrs. Trinket asked.

Peeta didn't answer. Instead, he collapsed. Katniss ran to his side in a panic.

"PEETA!"


	10. 10: Inside Your Heart

**10: Inside Your Heart**

Katniss went around in a fog as the ambulance came to pick up Peeta, even as she threatened the paramedics to let her ride with Peeta to the hospital. She stayed in that fog as she waited in the lobby for news. A nurse had barely come out saying she was permitted to go back when she was running to Peeta's room. She rushed to Peeta's side, crying as she held his hand.

"Why is this happening? You're too young to have a heart attack!"

Peeta just looked at her stoically. "I was born with a heart defect, Katniss. They had to do an arterial switch on me – flip my heart's arteries – just after I was born. Along with having to have some of my bowel removed, I nearly died twice. I thought a problem like this would never come back. I guess my luck just ran out."

Katniss stared at her best friend, stunned. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?" she whispered.

"It wasn't really a big deal, and until now, there was no issue."

Katniss paused, intertwining his fingers with hers. "So what happens now?"

"The doctors are going to perform a cauterization on me. They've discovered that one chamber in my heart is firing too early, creating irregular beats, or _'ectopic'_ beats. So, they're going to go in and trying and destroy those over-firing cells in my heart by either freezing or burning them – metaphorically speaking. Think of it as an arcade game, where the game is my heart, and the pixel villains are the ectopic beats."

"Will it hurt?" Katniss asked.

"Oh, definitely. But I won't feel anything or remember anything because I'll be under anesthesia."

"Then how do you know it hurts?"

"They tried doing this operation when I was ten. The anesthesia didn't knock me out properly so they had to stop halfway through."

Katniss started crying. She hadn't needed to hear that. What if the procedure went wrong now? What if…..?

"It's going to be all right, Katniss. I'll be back on my feet and in rehearsal before you know it."

She glanced up. "I can stay with you, can't I?"

"Of course you can! It'll be nice to have some support." So, Katniss lay her head on his chest and fell asleep in her chair, waiting for the procedure to start the next morning.


	11. 11: Kiss Me

**11: Kiss Me**

Morning came all too soon. Soon after Katniss awoke, a doctor entered Peeta's room.

"We are ready for you, Mr. Mellark."

Peeta looked stoic. "All right, boys, let's get it done." He turned to Katniss. "Help me up?"

She nodded. Helping him out of bed and supporting him, the two went down the hall to the bathroom. Peeta went to the restroom while Katniss waited outside, then she helped him to the lab. A few feet from the door, Peeta patted her shoulder.

"I can take it from here." He began to walk towards the lab's doors. Katniss suddenly felt fear grip her heart, leading to a rush of something she never usually acted upon: impulsiveness.

"Peeta!"

"What?" He barely had time to turn around before Katniss had thrown herself into his arms and kissed him, right on the lips.

Katniss was curious. She kissed him, really kissed him. He tasted much better than Cato or any of the other football players she had been with. Winding her arms around Peeta's neck, she closed her eyes and dared to hum in pleasure. "Hmmmmm…"

She opened her mouth to him, eased his tongue into her maw until she was full with the feel of him, as their tongues probed each other. A few minutes in, and her jaw muscles were sore, her lips puffy from the constant engaging.

Peeta, meanwhile, had her by the waist, his thumbs stroking alone her hips in a way that made Katniss tremble. She appreciated that he did not go any lower; other boys she had been with almost always went right for her ass to feel her up. And though it had turned her on, something about Peeta made her appreciate that he did not.

The kiss deepened so that it was long, drawn out. Finally, Katniss reluctantly pulled away, gasping for air.

"All right," she panted. "No more kissing. Get in there, and you'd better come out alive."

Peeta pecked her lips one last time before she could object. "You got it, sweetheart." Then, he strode confidently into the operating room.


	12. 12: Things are Looking Up

**12: Things are Looking Up**

The cauterization went off without a hitch. Peeta walked slowly for the next few weeks and had trouble getting in and out of a sitting position, due to where the doctors had entered to perform the procedure – his groin. Katniss helped him whenever she could, almost obsessively. It was if she was his personal caretaker. The operation was not officially declared a success until Peeta's 24-hour EKG reading came back positive, but by that point, it hardly mattered. He was back on his feet, and able to lead the cast of _Hamilton_. The spring musical was even more well-received than the year before. Katniss was very proud of Peeta. But she wondered – had ever since their kiss in the hospital. Were they friends, exactly? Or something more…?


	13. 13: The Word of Your Body

**13: The Word of Your Body**

It was Saturday morning, and Prim and Mrs. Everdeen were out running errands. Katniss was at home, watching TV. A knock diverted her attention from the screen. Going to the door, she found Peeta standing there. She smiled warmly even as her heart began to pound in her chest.

Then, she saw him walk in to give her a hug.

"You're all healed!" she said, relieved, as she leaned into his embrace. Peeta chuckled.

"Took me long enough." He pulled back to look into her eyes. "I need to tell you something. Actually… I need to show you something."

"Sure," Katniss smiled up at him. "What is it?"

Peeta didn't answer. Before Katniss could react, he had bent in and kissed her on the mouth.

Katniss was only slightly startled, but she relaxed into it. She grinned in triumph against Peeta's lips, draping her arms across his neck as he took her by the waist and pulled her flush against him. The kissing soon spiraled out of control. Peeta was kissing her desperately, his tongue down her throat, which turned Katniss on so much. Next second, Peeta had backed them both into the nearest wall and was now furiously attacking Katniss's neck. Katniss could only pant, eyes wide as saucers at the sensation.

"I…. I want….. Nnnnnnnnhhhhh…" She moaned loudly, could hardly form words as Peeta planted kises and love bites along any skin he could reach. "Peeta, please, I want…..OH! OHH! Oh God!"

Her airy cries came out as Peeta brazenly humped her center with his pelvis. She could feel his erection through his pants. And it was _hard_.

The kissing stopped and Peeta grinned at her. "Is that what you meant, Ms. Everdeen?"

Katniss seized his face. "Yes." She brought his lips crashing back down onto hers. Before either of them knew it, they were staggering up the stairs, back into Katniss's bedroom, ripping off each other's clothes and leaving a trail of them in their wake. Peeta seized Katniss's bum and gave it a squeeze, backing her up into the bed until she fell over onto it, taking him with her. By now, both were in nothing but their undergarments. Katniss could see the stain of wetness pooling at her underwear, but she didn't care. She was thirsty for him!

Peeta threw down his boxers, not even bothering to take them off all the way, and Katniss gasped at the giant, beauty of his member. She was nervous if he would fit in her. But she had slept with plenty of the football players and they had all seemed big to her.

Peeta eased into her gently, and Katniss choked on air as he filled her.

"Miracle I know what I'm doing," Peeta chuckled nervously. "First time and all."

Katniss blinked. "You're a virgin?" She felt honored that she was his first – at one time, she would not have been surprised that Peeta was sexually inexperienced; now she couldn't imagine how he was. He was so beautiful!

Then, she noticed something she hadn't before. Her eyes went wide.

"Peeta….. what happened to your chest?"

Silence. Peeta would not meet her gaze.

"For my surgery as an infant," he finally explained. "They had to cut me open. I lost my bellybutton in the process. My parents tell me it was hell, to see me like that – IVs all in me." A ghost of a smile appeared. "Mom says that I would keep kicking the IVs out; the doctors had to keep sticking me. That's how I ended up with this." He showed Katniss his left wrist. Four holes could be made out, in a rectangular formation; a faint line of bumped-up skin connected the bottom two holes.

Katniss put a hand to her mouth. She wanted to cry as she imagined baby Peeta, surely in pain as he fought for his life. "Oh, God…."

"Yeah, awful, isn't it? My chest looks like a milk truck ran over it…."

Katniss stared at him for a moment. She glanced down at the spot where Peeta's bellybutton should have been. She planted a kiss there. Then, she kissed her way up his chest, planting her lips on every scar she saw. She finished with the IV scars on his wrist, kissing each hole. She smiled at his transfixed expression.

"On the contrary, Mr. Mellark, I think you're beautiful. Those scars….. I think they make you look sexy." She bit her lip and blushed.

Peeta cracked a grin. "Oh, do you now?"

Katniss kissed him to shut him up. "Enough talk. Right now: make love to me!"

So Peeta did. He thrust into Katniss until she was clawing at his back, staring up at the ceiling and wailing, trashing in pleasure. Peeta kissed her everywhere he could reach, sweating with the effort of pounding into her.

At last, Katniss screamed, "PEEEETTAAAAA!" and her muscles seemed to seize, as she let her orgasm wash over them both like a tsunami. It took another minute or two before she felt the bursting trickle that let her know Peeta had spilled inside of her.

Peeta gently pulled out. He didn't have to ask Katniss to be his girlfriend; she wanted to be. So the pair just spent the time until Prim and Mrs. Everdeen came home cuddling and kissing.


	14. 14: For Good

**14: For Good**

The next few weeks were pure bliss. Katniss and Peeta, now officially a couple, spent every waking moment practically together – talking, laughing, kissing. Katniss even introduced Peeta to her old teammates, Clove and Glimmer, and they both accepted him as warmly as they could. Both were clearly ashamed of how they had treated Peeta before, and wanted to support Katniss in her happiness.

Peace would not last long, though. One day at school, Katniss was called into Mr. Abernathy's office. She sat across from his desk the way she had oh so long ago, it seemed.

"I trust you are aware that Peeta was absent from school today?" her principal asked.

Yes, she was – Peeta had phoned her that morning to tell her to go on without him, not worry about stopping at the bakery to pick him up.

"Is something wrong?" Katniss asked.

Mr. Abernathy looked her dead in the eye. "Katniss, Peeta's back in the hospital."

* * *

She left the school immediately, barely waited for an excused absence note from her principal. She broke every speed law getting to the hospital, ran down the hall once she arrived, finding him in the exact same room as before.

"What's going on?" she asked, already crying. Peeta just smiled sadly at her.

"The ectopic beats have come back, Katniss. And it's worse. Much worse."

"Can't-can't they do another cauterization?" she wept.

Peeta shook his head. "It's too late for that." A pause, and then came the bombshell:

"I'm dying, Katniss."

The world stopped spinning; Katniss vaguely felt herself fall back onto the floor before splitting the air with hysterical sobs. Peeta reached for her hand, pulled her back to his side.

"Ssssh….. Baby, don't cry. I was sad myself, but now…. I don't fear death. Because these last few years, I've gotten to live the best life with you."

"How…. how long?" she croaked out when she found the voice to speak.

"Two weeks, three at most."

"What about the musical next semester?..."

"….. It will be performed amazingly by you and the others, as always. Even better than any previous year, because I'll be watching over you." He sighed. "A priest is coming in a few minutes to give me the Last Rites."

Indeed, a priest did arrive about ten minutes later. He read Peeta his rites. That was when Katniss suddenly got that impulsive urge again. She seized Peeta's hand.

"Marry me, Peeta!"

Peeta stared at her, shocked.

"Katniss….."

"Please! I don't want you to just leave me." She covered his body with hers and got out through her tears. "I love you."

Moved, Peeta began to break down. "You would relish being a dying man's wife?"

"You're not dead! Not yet! And I relish being _your_ wife – it doesn't matter how long we have." Katniss turned to the priest. "Father, will you please marry us?" Peeta nodded his consent.

"You are both of age, so I have no problem with it," the priest smiled kindly. He performed an impromptu service. Katniss and Peeta then sealed it with a long, loving kiss. Katniss broke away smiling, and pressed her forehead to her new husband's.

"We're married," she sighed with relish. Peeta kissed her again.

"I love you, Katniss Everdeen."

"It's Katniss Mellark now. And I love you."

* * *

Katniss took to the role of dutiful wife well. She visited Peeta every afternoon in the hospital, even staying the night there until she had to get up for school.

Peeta's condition gradually worsened, until the doctors decided that it was best to turn off the machines.

That last afternoon, Katniss climbed into Peeta's bed with him, and they held each other.

"Will you be all right?" Peeta asked, sounding truly frightened for the first time. Katniss was touched by the fact that his fear was over her and not himself.

"As long as a part of you remains here with me," she breathed, cuddling closer into his side.

"Katniss…. I never thanked you. For the extraordinary gift you have given me."

She smiled, even as she began to weep. "Neither have I. But, I can try to." She began to sing to him, one of his favorite tunes that had incidentally become hers, after she got into theatre:

" _I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them. And we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you….._ "

Peeta joined in at the refrain. By the end, both were weeping, barely able to finish:

" _Who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better._ "

Katniss smiled at him tenderly: " _And, because I knew you._ "

Peeta echoed: " _Because I knew you….._ "

They finished together: " _Because I knew you, I have been changed… for good….._ " The song ended with them sharing a tender kiss.

All too soon, the doctors came to shut off the machines. Katniss was made to leave. Besides, Peeta did not want her to see.

That didn't make it any easier when a doctor came to the waiting room several hours later to report her husband of all of three weeks was dead. Katniss collapsed.


	15. 15: Why God, Why?

**15: Why God, Why?**

The funeral was a blur; Katniss could barely remember it. Most nights, she went to bed early, covers pulled up to her chin to blot out the rest of the world. She and Peeta had made love in this bed…..

That only made her feel more despondent over her lost love.

To top of the depression, Katniss began to feel sick a month or so after Peeta was gone. When it didn't abate, her mother made her take a pregnancy test. That's when she learned:

Oh God. She was pregnant with Peeta's child.

Katniss wailed that first night. She blubbered. She screamed. How could she be a single mother at only seventeen? With the father lying in his grave? What kind of a life was that to bestow on an innocent baby? She didn't know.

But the more she thought about it; the more she started to show and began to feel the baby growing inside her, she realized this was a blessing. More than his spirit, Peeta had left her something tangible to remember him by. That fact alone made her thank her lucky stars that she had let Peeta sleep with her while forgetting to use protection. The Mellark legacy would live on….. and Katniss was proud to bear some of that. It was the least she could do for the man who had changed her heart; transformed her from a vain, cheerleading bitch to a humble young woman who cared about others.

She only hoped that she and Peeta's child would have the same qualities passed down to it.


	16. 16: Learning to Let Go

**16: Learning to Let Go**

The next spring, Katniss auditioned for the musical, her very last one before graduation. The show that year was _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_ and she won the part of the Narrator.

The production was a huge success, even if the audience stared too much at Katniss's now very-pregnant belly. The baby would be due just after graduation – timing that could not have been more perfect. The best part was that after the final curtain call, the entire Theatre Department paid homage to Peeta, with Katniss singing an emotionally appropriate song from a rather obscure musical that Peeta had shown her. She got a standing ovation, plus a gift basket from Mrs. Trinket and the cast that included baby items.

Life would go on, it seemed.


	17. 17: Hardest Part of Love

**17: Hardest Part of Love**

Mere weeks after Graduation in June, Katniss Mellark found herself flat on her back in a hospital bed, screaming as she attempted to bring Peeta's baby into the world. Thank goodness her mother and Prim were such expert Healers, or she might not have made it through.

Yet, hours later, the baby did arrive: a boy. Katniss named him Alexander Hamilton Mellark, to honor Peeta in his most famous role as the inaugural U.S. Treasury Secretary. That night, as she rocked her baby to sleep, she couldn't help but hum the score of the show, even hearing Peeta's voice singing with her as though carried on the wind, blessing their son and the life he would embark upon:

" _And there's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait… Alexander Hamilton._ "


End file.
